The Sand Castle (Poetry)

It took all of one August afternoon
to build it — countless bucketfulls of sand
carted up the beach to where she sat
dozing while she listened to the band

that played those old time marches — oom-pah-pah-ed
their rhythms military, as the walls
rose steadily — a fortress so designed
it would stand firm — defy each wave that crawled

up to its door. The labour was like love —
all seemed worth the effort — carved with care
and swayed by romance, for a flag I took
the ribbon that had fallen from her hair.

Fifty years of tides have come and gone —
I have a snap — a grainy black and white —
the castle that I built for her that day
its shadow long, its towers bathed in light.